Given the explosive growth in popularity of Estonian music, one might well ask what Estonians themselves listen to. One answer might be the music of composer Tõnu Kõrvits, which has an accessible tonal style oriented toward the expression of feelings, yet is not neo-Romantic. He is frequently associated with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, but here, the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir show themselves to be confident in his style. Kõrvits' choral-orchestral settings of the poem ...
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Given the explosive growth in popularity of Estonian music, one might well ask what Estonians themselves listen to. One answer might be the music of composer Tõnu Kõrvits, which has an accessible tonal style oriented toward the expression of feelings, yet is not neo-Romantic. He is frequently associated with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, but here, the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir show themselves to be confident in his style. Kõrvits' choral-orchestral settings of the poem cycle You Are Light and Morning (Sei la luce e il mattino), by Cesare Pavese, delve into arch-Romantic sentiments. The poems, in Italian and English, set sentiments of love and death against imagery of nature, and Kõrvits responds to them with full emotional force. However, beginning with the unique opening "Fade-In," Kõrvits' music has an economy inspired by the minimalist environment of the contemporary Baltics. The music expands from stasis and contracts back to it as the passions of...
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